“Dy, your turn.”
Dyver woke up with a start.
“Yeah, sure.” the Dyer Wolf said groggily as he straightened in his seat to ease the stiffness from his poor posture. “Where are we?”
“Just passed Harrismith.” Tiaan said stiffly. “Address is in the GPS. Let me know when we're ten minutes out of town?”
“Sure.” Dyver and Tiaan switched places, and the convoy moved on. The highway was soon abandoned for a smaller road and eventually a dirt track that rattled the last of the crew out of sleep. Though the rough terrain slowed their progress, by the time the sun began to drag its form over the horizon the convoy had come to a small farm gate seemingly surrounded by nothing.
“I thought that Skilpadsvrekvandorsfontein was supposed to be a town...?” Glade asked, leaning over the seat backs to stare out the windscreen.
“Town is a pretty loosely used term by the looks looks of it.” Quion muttered from behind the back seats of the SUV. He hadn’t yet managed to return to a more human shape, and as such was relegated to lying on top of a portion of luggage.
“Trust me, there’s no room for anyone more than Dewald in this place.” Tiaan huffed as he opened his door and pulled open the gate for the convoy to pass through.
The dirt track continued for another small eternity, before a farmhouse and the proverbial hangar appeared from behind a small line of trees behind a hill. The outside looked like a mess, the only evidence that the property was used being the small vegetable patch and clear ground path between the house and hangar door.
“Are you sure about this?” Bryn asked stiffly. “How does this guy even get any recording equipment to a place like this…?”
The sound of the vehicles pulling up to the buildings must have woken up the residents, because a young human male scrambled out of the door in his nighties to greet them.
He was tall, well built, and looked a little awkward on his feet, with a round face and long, curly brown hair that looked about as unruly as his property. When Tiaan stepped out of the car to greet him, the burly man’s face split into a lopsided grin that would have suited a crocodile had it not been so honestly cheerful.
“Don’t tell me we woke you up, Man?” Tiaan teased as Dyver switched off the car and Jex pulled his vehicle up next to them.
“When you said you were in Durban and would see me tomorrow, I didn't expect to see you before noon.” The man laughed. “How you doing, man?”
“Tired. You should think of tarring that driveway of yours, Dewald.”
“I’ll remember that. Who all’s with you?”
Tiaan sighed, and motioned for everyone to disembark.
When they did, Dewald’s smile slowly dissolved and his face paled. Dyver was first to join the two humans, with Quion behind him by a few paces.
“Tii…” Dewald whispered. “What are they…?”
“Don’t tell me you don't have any TV out here.” Dyver smiled. “Considering that we’ve been all over it for months.”
Dewald’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. His hand raised to point a trembling finger in Dyver’s direction.
“DIVAN FLIPPIN SMIT?!” Dewald burst. “Wat op aarde het met jou gebeer!?” (What on Earth happened to you!?)
“Lots of stuff.” The canine shrugged with a grin. “I go by Dyver now, though.”
“Help tog, and here I was thinking the whole dogman thing happening out there was a hoax.” Dewald rubbed a hand over his face, trying to convince himself that he wasn't seeing things. “What exactly is going on, guys? You didn't tell me anything about what you need my hangar for.”
At this point, Quion stepped forward. “I believe I can explain that part.”
Dewald looked at the Feral with a blank expression for a long moment.
“Why is that dog talking?”
“Because I used to be a human.” Quion explained tiredly. “We need your hangar to act as a safe space to complete our metamorphosis and prevent any of us from going insane.”
Dewald stared in incomprehension. “That dog’s from Bristol.”
“Congratulations. You can recognise an accent.” Quion rolled his eyes. “But can you accommodate us?”
Dewald floundered around his words for a moment, before giving up on vocabulary and nodding instead. He motioned for everyone to follow him and moved towards his hangar.
“Have you got them?” Dyver overheard Quion ask.
“Yup.” Bryn answered with his grimace audible in his voice. “I really don't like this idea, though. What happens if it doesn't work?”
“Jex and I will jump in.” Quion muttered. “You’ll be fine.”
“Why don't I believe that very much…?”
Before the exchange could continue, Dewald had unbolted the hangar door and was pulling open its front.
The interior had scattered sets built throughout, and the floor was a bit cluttered, but the hangar was sound of structure and relatively clean.
“We'll have to move your equipment and sets so we don't accidentally damage anything.” Dyver sighed. “You okay with that?”
Dewald shrugged. “Go wild. You break it, you buy it.”
“I don't recommend telling a Dyer to go wild so easily,” Tiaan laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.
“...Right. Noted.” Dewald pouted. An unbidden yawn ripped from his mouth.
“I don't know about you guys, but I think whatever it is you need to do can wait until later.” the scruffy human said. “Uh, make yourselves at home. There's definitely some camping gear in here someplace, and I know two of my sets are bedrooms, so you can sleep off your travel sores. Breakfast at eleven sound good?”
“Thanks man.” Tiaan grinned, and Dewald retreated to his own lodgings.
The Dyers set to putting the hangar into a temporary state of order in which everyone could bunk down, Elizabeth and Tiaan lending fur-free hands wherever necessary. It was with gratitude and little care for their less than extensive lodgings that the Dyers and their human counterparts fell into a short-lived slumber.
When they awoke it was largely to the scent of a meaty breakfast in its preparation and the yelps and curses that went with an unpractised and unprepared individual trying to cook a meal for ten guests, most of whom were unanticipated.
The meal consisted entirely of boerewors rolls and coffee, to which there were no oobjections. After the last morsels had been gratefully consumed, the braai grill cleaned and the paper plates turfed, everyone set to work clearing the hangar.
The tedious work took the crew until dinner time, at which point another round of boerewors rolls drew no complaints.
After allowing everyone’s bellies a few minutes to settle, Quion huffed impatiently. Being incapable of lending hands to speed up the process of clearing the hanger had obviously agitated him.
“There’s no point in stalling any more. Dr Schneider, Dewald, Louw, I suggest you lock us in and leave us be at this point.”
“Are we starting now!?” Elsabie balked.
Quion nodded. “You are more likely to turn when mind is weak from exhaustion or pain than when you are well rested. Do you want to get this over with already, or what?”
Elsabie fidgeted nervously, but said nothing.
Tiaan didn’t look pleased, but he complied, the other two humans following with uncertainty and professional curiosity respectively.
“Dyver.”
The blue Dyer looked up to where Tiaan had paused in the doorway.
“You’d better wake up from this.”
“Thanks, Tii.”
Tiaan glared at him, and shut the canines inside and bolted the door to echo with a clank of finality behind him.
“Bryn.” Quion suggested.
The chocolate Dyer sighed.
Standing, Bryn ambled over to his tog bag and began shuffling things around within it.
“Astiva.” Quion ordered, and the hacker looked at him with confusion.
She yelped when Jex appeared behind her and slipped a blindfold over her eyes.
“H-hey!? What's the big idea!?”
“Just hold still for a minute, Asti.” Jex rolled his eyes.
Astiva puffed out her cheeks, but complied as Bryn returned to the group with a tupperware full of cookies. He began distributing them, and as Dyver was handed his, he noticed that there was a long ribbon attached to each one.
“Tie those around your necks.” Quion ordered. “Use the paint dots close to the ends as a reference for how much slack to give. Make sure that the… centrepiece, is clearly visible.”
As Quion spoke, Dyver felt realization dawning on him, and a dark dawn it was indeed.
This is bait. Dyver swallowed. Aside from Bryn, nobody seemed aware of how dangerous a rainbow shortbread cookie around their neck was. Reluctantly, he fastened his cookie into place, noticing how the circumference of his confectionery jewellery was easily four times that of his neck.
Once everyone had prepared their cookies, Jex leaned close to Astiva’s ear.
“Hey, Asti?”
“What?”
“You smell that?”
Astiva paused, her nose twitching. Almost immediately, her entire frame stiffened.
“They're all yours...” Jex prepared to remove her blindfold. “Go get ‘em!”
Jex had hardly pulled the cloth from her eyes when the hacker dashed towards the scent of the nearest cookie, her eyes narrowed to slits. People scattered for cover as Astiva chose her first target.
Andries scrambled back in surprise as the gaping maw of sharpened canine teeth rushed towards him. With a face full of pure panic, he turned and made a run for it, but Astiva was faster.
She tackled him from behind, rolling quickly to face him on all fours in search of the delicacy around his neck.
Elsabie was panicking from where she had taken the sparse cover of a structural support. “Andr--”
“Shh!” Dyver hissed. “Watch!”
Andries scrambled away from Astiva on his rear with his face contorted in terror.
“What's gotten into her!?” He yelped.
“Nothing much.” Quion mused idly. “Just make sure she doesn't get that cookie.”
“Why!? What's so special about the cookie!?”
“I don't think you have the time to worry about that.” Quion hummed as Astiva stalked closer, her stance low and her tail flicking with each movement Andries made in his desperate retreat.
“I-I just need to make sure she doesn't get the cookie, right?” Andries stammered.
“Yup.”
Andries swallowed.
“Then this should be fine.”
With a swift tug, Andries pulled the cookie from his ribbon.
Astiva lept.
The cookie vanished down Andries’ throat.
Astiva yelped helplessly in mid air, her balance faltering and sending her crashing into him. She scrambled away, screeching disdainfully at him.
Dyver was sure he was not imagining the slight difference in her proportions as the screech mutated to a growl.
Andries was backed up against a wall now, Astiva still growling at him as she inched closer with her lip curled with aggression.
“Hey!” Glade called, and Astiva’s attention snapped over to her. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
In her hand, her cookie dangled tantalisingly.
Astiva’s brows knotted as her growl redoubled, and she made for her new target.
Glade swung out of the path of Astiva’s jaws moments before she hit her mark. She spun around to face the hacker, teasing her with the cookie she swung in front of her. Each time she lunged, Glade expertly flicked it out of her reach. As the hairdresser continued to toy with her, Astiva’s form became more and more animalistic to gain an advantage. Soon Glade’s advantage begame nullified as Astiva leapt straight over her head, following the arc of the cookie as it swung over her.
On her landing, the seams of Astiva’s clothing split and it fell away, leaving a fully canine Dyer Wolf crouched in front of her.
With one final leap in her direction, Glade realised her disadvantage and ducked, flinging her cookie away and straight towards Bryn.
Astiva followed the cookie, snapping it out of the air and not caring about Glade’s presence at all.
Bryn’s confection still hung a around his neck.
“She's turned.” Quion noted absently. “Now for the rest of you.”
Bryn’s eyes snapped into slits as Astiva lunged for the cookie at his throat.
He jumped back and twisted left, dodging the incoming canine and landing in a crouch. Astiva barked at him, and he replied with a growl of his own, his ears pinned back and his teeth bared.
Her eyes darted between his snarl and his cookie, before Astiva lunged again.
This time, Bryn matched her movement.
His form shifted mid-leap and he collided with her in a flurry of barks and snapping jaws. Paws swiped and necks narrowly evaded their opponents’ teeth, until Astiva eventually caught Bryn’s ribbon and ripped his cookie from his neck. As soon as she had her prize, Astiva retreated, but Bryn was having none of it.
He chased her, snapping at her ankles and making it clear that he did not appreciate her attacking him. Bryn was not quite double her size, and tackled her with a vicious grip to the scruff of her neck. Astiva yowled and kicked, forgetting her cookie as she fought to fend off Bryn’s angry jaws.
“They're going to kill each other!” Elsabie yelped.
“No, they're not!” Glade growled, rushing towards the fighting Ferals. Her fur was bristling.
“Ooi! Get your paws off of her you cheating mutt! THE ONLY WOMAN YOU TOUCH IS ME!”
Dyver wasn’t sure what Glade had intended to achieve by running head first into Bryn’s flank, but since the latter had been knocked off of balance and his attentions returned to his girlfriend, Dyver assumed that was the intention. Roughly.
Bryn was back on his feet in a moment, trying to reassess his position.
Glade was staring him down with a tangible venom rolling from her gaze, daring him to try and get close to Astiva a second time. Astiva saw the gap to escape, stealing the cookie from between Glade’s feet and trotting to the opposite side of the hangar with her tail between her legs.
Dyver opted to keep an eye on Astiva as his brother sorted out his relationship with his girlfriend, though one of his dexterous ears stayed trained on the troubled couple.
A few moments of watching the hacker told Dyver she wasn't going to need targets any more.
“Guys. Take off your cookies. There's no point to them anymore.” Dyver said stiffly. The remaining anthropomorphs were all too eager to remove the targets from their persons and toss them to where Astiva was nursing her prized cookie.
Quion and Jex had taken up space against a wall, and were perfectly content to watch the chaos unfold around them. Andries was circling around to Dyver’s position, and Elsabie was shivering her way to Quion and Jex with uncertain footsteps.
“You have to stop this!” Elsabie pleaded. “This is unreasonable!”
Jex looked away with a sour expression, and Quion said nothing.
Elsabie stared incredulously.
“You-you’re not going to do anything...!?” She whispered in terror.
“We're doing exactly what we cane here for.” Quion said simply.
He glanced at where Glade had managed to turn and was now circling around with Bryn in a standoff.
“It isn’t time for us to step in yet.” Quion sighed.
“You're insane!” Elsabie hissed fearfully. “You're going to--”
“Jex?”
The fox sighed.
“Askies, Mevrou.” (Sorry, Ma’am.)
Before Elsabie could react, Jex had grabbed her by the wrist, and flung her towards Bryn and Glade.
The two Ferals hissed in surprise at the third canine in their midst as Elsabie tumbled roughly to the ground. Andries rushed towards her as soon as it happened, roaring curses at Jex and threats at the Ferals.
Andries turned facing off against his son.
Elsabie soon followed, running away to bark and scratch at the door in futility. Andries, Bryn and Glade came to some sort of peaceful understanding a minute or so later.
Astiva was uninterested in anything but the ribbons she had somehow managed to knot around her forepaws.
With everyone else settled into some sort sort of peaceful state of mind, Dyver grimly noted that he had been somehow excluded from the festivities.
Quion stalked up to him and raised a brow.
“Didn't feel like joining in?”
Dyver grit his teeth. “I would have only interfered.”
Quion nodded, and strode away a few paces. He turned and lowered his stance, hackles raising as he stared Quion down.
“Then it looks like I'll have to step in.”
~<0>~
A/N:
So.... it's been a while since I updated DYER. Honestly I'd had the most awful block with this chapter - it didn’t feel like it wanted to flow very well, but I'll leave that critique up to you guys.
Anyway, the DYER universe is expanding!! Go check out DYER: The Singapore Wolves by @GraffiasAntares and give it some love!
Later, Furries~♡
...Also I seem to have lost the dedicate button on the mobile app...